Media & Interest Groups (MIG) What role does the media play?

Answer the following questions. Make your best guess! How many hours per day do you watch tv? How many hours per week? How many hours per day do you listen to music (radio, ipod, or on the computer)? How many hours per day do you use the internet?

Statistics CHILDREN AND TELEVISION Almost two-thirds (61%) of children now have a television set in their bedrooms, 17% have their own PC. Knowledge Networks/SRI study, October 6, 2003 35% of kids have videogame systems in their rooms, 14% have their own DVD player 9% have Internet access via a PC in their bedrooms. Based on interviews with 245 children ages 8 to 17, http://www.med.sc.edu:1081/mediause.htm

Children & Television Cont’d “By first grade, most children have spent the equivalent of three school years in front of the TV set.” Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television and the First Amendment, Minnow and LaMay. 62% of fourth graders say they spend more than three hours per day watching TV. Educational Testing Service study

CHILDREN AND PARENTAL RULES 50% of children say they have parental rules for their TV use (vs. 61% of kids without their own sets). Based on interviews with 245 children ages 8 to 17, http://www.med.sc.edu:1081/mediause.htm 61% report having parental rules restricting their Web use. Based on interviews with 245 children ages 8 to 17, http://www.med.sc.edu:1081/mediause.htm

YOUTH AND MEDIA: COMPARISON **Examine the amount of time watching television versus reading books/magazines Activity Hours per week Internet surfing 16.7 Watching TV 13.6 Radio 12 Talking on phone 7.7 Reading books/magazines 6 Harris Interactive and Teenage Research Unlimited surveyed 2,618 people in the age group of 13 to 24 in June 2003.

YOUTH AND MEDIA: COMPARISON Children aged 2-5 average 25 hours per week watching TV. AC Nielsen Co. Children aged 6-11 average more than 22 hours per week watching TV. Children aged 12-17 average 23 hours per week watching TV.

YOUTH AND MEDIA IMPACT 8,000: Number of TV murders the average child will witness before completing elementary school 100,000: Number of acts of violence on TV the average child will witness before completing elementary school 300: Number of studies demonstrating a link between media violence and violent, aggressive, anti-social behavior in children Congressional Research Service, Kaiser Family Foundation surveys

TELEVISION: BOYS VS. GIRLS Between the ages of 10 and 17, boys are more likely to watch TV daily than are girls (81 percent vs. 75 percent). “Children Now” Survey Boys are more likely to watch sports and cartoons, while girls are more likely to watch talk shows. Both boys and girls equally watch music videos: 49%of children say they watch these daily. Kaiser Family Foundation

Mass Media Is any form of communication that reaches large numbers of people Most used: TV (1950s) Radio (1920s) Newspapers: Partisan Objective Internet (1990s) – least regulated

Political Commercials If these statistics are true, that means we watch a lot of tv! How do politicians try to use this medium to convince us to vote for them? Lyndon B. Johnson (D) – 1964 – Daisy Commercial http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/search/index.php?search_string=daisy&action=new_search

More Commercials 1996: Bob Dole (R) http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/search/index.php?search_string=daisy&action=new_search 2008: Hillary Clinton (D) http://hillaryclinton.com/video/142.aspx

Each commercial had a similar theme Each commercial had a similar theme. What was theme and why do you think each candidate used that particular theme?

MIG #5 Role of the Media

What is Newsworthy? A presidential candidate’s child has a drug problem. A presidential candidate had poor grades in college. A presidential candidate cheated on his or her taxes. A presidential candidate experimented with marijuana in college. A presidential candidate bribed a public official in order to get his or her first internship in politics.

“Free & Responsible Press” Media: Means of communication, mass media reaches large numbers of people Linkage Institution: Like parties and IGs this links us to gov AKA 4th Branch “Free & Responsible Press”

So, is there anything one can’t say? 1st Amendment Grants freedom of speech & press Rarely allows for prior restraint: censorship before publication So, is there anything one can’t say?

Limits Defamation: Libel Slander False Malicious LAST SAD DAYS OF DICK CLARK Dick Clark has just months to live. READ MORE >>

“THE NEWS” (as seen today) What makes the news? News is limited by time, space & money Privately owned institutions: must make a profit News = whatever the people are willing to pay for / watch / listen to

The press is mostly free – is it responsible?

MIG #5 – Cont’d ….What is this quote saying about the news? The news required for a functional democracy - the news that empowers citizens to act in their own interest and for the good of society – is discarded [by the corporate media] to make way for the trivial, sensational, and salacious.” From It’s the Media, Stupid

Roles of the Media Gatekeeper: Signaler: What stories are shown? What makes the news? Signaler: Breaking news Scorekeeper: Who’s ahead in the polls? Horse Race Journalism

Roles Cont’d Watchdog: Common Carrier: expose scandals common stories b/w all stations

How did we get to this? Days of the Founders: Newspapers Partisan Penny press More objective

**Has the media always been biased? By late 1800s: Yellow Journalism Wm Randolph Hearst: you furnish the pictures, and I’ll furnish the war Magazines: specific audiences **Has the media always been biased?

Mass Media Radio - 1920s TV – 1950s These are national forms of mass media Requires a license from the FCC, Federal Communications Commission, which regulates both

FCC Regulations “BLEEP!” Janet Jackson & Superbowl TV / Radio are the most restricted forms of media Why? Does these rules violate their first amendment rights?

More FCC Rules To create an unbiased media: Equal Time: Exceptions: Debates & 3rd Parties Right of Reply Fairness Doctrine (no longer in effect)

The Internet Least regulated form of media Advantages: Disadv: How much will it affect the next election? Facebook, You Tube, My Space, online commercials and websites Grassroots organization

Media Today Megamedia: only a few large corporations all the tv stations

Can sway those w/o strong opinions or on topics we know little about How does the media affect us? Can sway those w/o strong opinions or on topics we know little about War in Iraq v. education Sound bite 24/7 News Channels: constantly reporting Types of stories: Investigative – looking for wrongdoing (Watergate) Character Sets the public agenda – what issues are important (or ignored)

Compare & contrast the role of tv and the role of the internet in political campaigns. Which one do you think will be more effective in helping politicians win campaigns?

MIG #3: Hazelwood What is the conflict in this case? (What are the principal and students fighting over?) Are these articles newsworthy? (Should it be something high school students discuss in the school paper?) What is the principal’s main argument? What is the students’ main argument? How should the Court decide this case?

What our founding fathers had to say on the news…. “A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both” James Madison What is Madison trying to say about the function of the news?